3ds and cad problem

[Khadaji]

Hi,

 

I am currently working on an assignment that required me to model a section of busway in Autocad, and then import it into 3ds to apply materials/animations/camera tracks/lights etc.

 

My problem is that once imported several of my meshes are showing up as black, and even with a material attributed to that layer they do not appear when rendered. I tried to attach some photos of the issue that i uploaded to my website, but the forum will not allow new members to post urls/images. I can also upload the cad/3ds file if needed.

 

I am using max 2010 and cad2010, 6 core AMD with 8 gig of ram and a 9800gx2 video card.

 

Thanks for reading

 

Craig

[Khadaji]

You can find the images at www cleverchook com au / cad1.jpg up to cad3.jpg

Thanks again

[Cad64]

Those black areas are probably flipped. This is a common problem when Importing CAD models into Max. Just switch to Polygon selection mode, select the black poly's and then click the "Flip" button.

[Khadaji]

Thanks for the swift response.

The objects are part of a larger layer, the flip didnt work, but i will edit the model in autocad and assign each black area to its own layer to see if that lets me flip them.

 

Craig

[Cad64]

It should have worked. Did you convert your model to an editable poly before trying to flip?

 

Can you post your Max file here?

[Khadaji]

I placed the topmost black item on a seperate layer.

I re imported the file into Max, selected the item and clicked on the modify tab.

I right clicked where it said editable mesh and selected editable poly

I selected the polygon icon, then hit flip

No luck

 

I posted the process to see if it was something im doing...

 

C

 

The file is pretty large...113mb or so. I can upload it to my website if you can download it.

[Cad64]

You said: "I selected the polygon icon, then hit flip"

But this is what you should have done: Select the polygon icon, select the black poly's, then hit flip

[Khadaji]

You sir, are a god.

Thanks!!!!!

 

C

[Khadaji]

Ok it worked perfectly for every mesh except one. When i flip one of them it behaves strangly, creates a vertical surface where no surface was before. I expect it might have something to do with being such an irregular shape.

I have so far tried to import it seperately into max to no avail, and exploding it in cad to see if i can manipulate the individual surfaces. This was a cad edge mesh.

Thanks again for looking

 

once again the images are at www cleverchook com au/cad4.jpg and cad5.jpg

 

C

[Khadaji]

Ok have found a working solution. If i keep the meshes contained within the original layers i can flip the individual faces. time consuming but it works.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

C

[Cad64]

I don't know why that's happening?

"Flip" should just flip the polygons so they face the opposite direction. It should not alter your geometry.

 

Oh well, at least you got it working.